New-Tech Europe | Oct 2016 | Special Edition For Electronica 2016

Using PXI Modular Instruments and LabVIEW for Secondary Surveillance Radar ATE

Vishwanath Kalkur - Captronic Systems Pvt Ltd Mondeep Duarah - Captronic Systems Pvt Ltd

"With the ATE for SSR we created using NI PXI modular instruments and LabVIEW, our customer reduced radar test time by 90 percent compared to earlier desktop instrument manual connections. Our customer also saved 60 percent of costs compared to other ATEs built with traditional box instruments." - Vishwanath Kalkur, Captronic Systems Pvt Ltd The Challenge: Using PXI Modular Instruments and LabVIEW for Secondary Surveillance Radar ATE The Solution: Using NI PXI modular instruments, along with the NI LabVIEW FPGA

Module, to create a customized, scalable solution to test the entire range of radar function. Unlike primary radars, SSR calculates the range and azimuth of a target, such as an aircraft, using a bidirectional communication link to gather information, including identity, altitude, and country code. Engineers use SSR in both military and civil aviation, with the former incorporating an identifying friend- or-foe system. SSR works in different modes to obtain information from the target. The system sends interrogating pulses from the radar in a bidirectional rotating antenna at 1,030 MHz. If a target detects interrogation, the transponder of the target replies with a frame of pulses at 1,090 MHz. Radar at the ground

station generates interrogating pulses and requests information such as identity, altitude, or country code from the target represented as mode-A/3A, mode-C, or mode-S. Based on the interrogation answers, the aircraft replies with a standard reply pulse format. The system calculates range and azimuth based on the speed-to-distance relation and rotary antenna position with respect to north or the heading direction. Today’s radars need rigorous testing before they are deployed in military or civil aviation.We developed an ATE using NI PXI modular instruments to facilitate the functionality tests of the radar and physical parameters test of the receiver (Rx) and transmitter (Tx), including Rx bandwidth, Rx sensitivity, Tx power, and Tx pulse

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